If You Like Reading Colati
by chemxalromance
Summary: Colin finds he's losing his touch. Ah, well, at least he has the eyeliner to keep up his image.


**Author's note**: This fic is based on characterizations from the LJ RPG **VuNetwork**, so there is a backstory that is not written. This features emo!goth!Colin Creevey and bubbly!Parvati Patil. There is a companion piece from Parvati's POV written by LJ user wook77.

- - -

"Hey!" Dennis said cheerily, plopping himself down at the edge of the bed. It was his normal spot, and the other residents of the dorm had long since been surprised at seeing him there.

"Dennis," Colin replied in his usual morose manner, but inside he was elated.

"You seem happy today." That was always like Dennis, Colin thought. It didn't matter what he did, or said, or looked like on any certain day; Dennis would always know what was really going on. It was one of the many reasons Colin enjoyed his brother's company so much. The face that Colin wore for everyone else was never really what Dennis saw.

"Do I?" Colin asked, voice flat.

"Yes," said Dennis firmly. "You do. What did you get up to last night?"

- - -

_Oh God. Oh God. Oh God, I'm going to make an arse out of myself and I'm shirtless and she's shirtless and the whole **fucking** school is watching._

Colin was finding it hard not to panic, what with his left foot on red and his right hand on yellow and a very shirtless Parvati Patil currently underneath him. In his mind he was wailing, wondering why he ever agreed to play 'Strip Twister', a game Pansy Parkinson had devised. He looked down to see Parvati smiling at him - at _him _and no one else - and he thought he might lose all control and kiss that smile away from her face.

Deciding it would be better to lose the game than simultaneously ruin his life and one of his only friendships, Colin did the first thing that came to mind in order to halt these crazy ideas running in his head. At the next call ("Left hand - green!") he pretended to lose his balance and fell.

Only he hadn't calculated the whole 'falling on Parvati' part. There was no annoying, restricting layer of clothing separating his chest from hers. Only the soft, silky feel of her bra and in the seconds that seemed like hours that he laid atop her, the delicious sensations that her bra cause against his skin threatened to put Colin in a very embarrassing place. He grimaced; this was definitely not the time nor place for him to be feeling any sort of sensations from Parvati.

Embarrassed, he quickly stood up, relieved to see that his trousers weren't going to betray him. At least not today. Parvati was still on her back, and without thinking Colin extended his hand to her to help her up. Though his mind was screaming for him not to, he held onto her hand a bit longer than was strictly necessary. In a room now filthy with mud and alcohol and bodies in various stages of undress, he thought she smelled like roses and sunshine.

"Parvati!"

_Damn it._

As Parvati was called away to the computer station by Lavender, Colin slumped down into an available chair and summoned a drink into his hand. And as she waved goodbye, rushing out the door as if she'd rather be any place but there, he finished what was in the bottle and glared at it for daring to be empty.

- - -

He'd taken pride, before, on the fact that he was in a constant state of nothingness, devoid of any feelings.

But Parvati had mentioned walking alone and something had made him offer to see her and she was just _beautiful_, even though her hair had gotten messy and she looked barely awake and there was a mysterious spot on her leg where he suspected Padma had drooled. He clenched his fists, determined not to scare off the only person, besides Dennis, that ever gave him the time of day.

And hadn't it always amused him, how much she could talk? He was never one to hold up a very good conversation, but she always made up for it. He forced himself to actually listen to her I words /I rather than succumb to the tempting idea of just hearing her voice for the sake of it. He didn't know whether he wanted to gut Justin for making her this upset, or thank him for giving her something to talk about at such length.

_I'm probably dreaming again. That would be just my luck._

Partly to convince himself otherwise, and partly because he couldn't help but doing so, he shifted his arm a bit, so that his hand brushed against hers. A wisp of feeling. A brief touch, just to prove she was real and not a figment of his imagination, like what he had been experiencing in his dreams for days now.

And then her hand was in his, a tentative but definite question from her. Shocked, he stopped abruptly and simply stared at their clasped hands. To his dismay, she pulled away and the moment was over as quickly as it had begun.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

He looked at her, studying every detail: her downcast eyes, flushed cheeks and bottom lip trapped between her teeth.

_Well, there is a reason I'm in Gryffindor._

Determined, he firmly entwined their fingers, never once averting his eyes from her face. He was rewarded with a dazzling smile, and he could feel his own lips twitching with delight as they acknowledged wordlessly something he had tried to keep secret for so long.

Hand in hand, they made their way down to the kitchens. Colin had suddenly gotten a craving for something sweet and delicious.

- - -

Colin's eyes sparkled in an amusement that didn't show on his lips.

"Perhaps when you're older, Dennis. Then maybe I'll tell you."

Dennis narrowed his eyes but smiled, shrugging it off as something that would undoubtedly be revealed to him later.

"Alright," Dennis agreed. "How about we head outside? I haven't heard any of your poems in ages."


End file.
